Thomas: Our baby factory in California prisons

Whole generation of children fathered by 'lifers' and other convicts

Because the fates have such a quirky sense of irony, news stories that may seem unrelated are often inextricably intertwined.

That's been triply true just lately.

Let's start with the recent race riot pitting black versus Chicano gangbangers at Chino prison in California. The reported causes: overcrowding — 5,900 inmates in a prison built to hold 3,000 — plus a U.S. Supreme Court order to desegregate this state's prisons.

Keeping the black, white, Chicano and Asian gang members away from each other was the state's primary way of avoiding such rioting. But the high court ordered all the prisoners to be housed at random, with no regard to the volatility of putting members of opposing gangs in the same cell.

This adds immeasurably to California's red-ink budget for running the prisons — as does overcrowding, plus an aging population of inmates.

Many elderly prisoners require constant medical attention, and even if they were released, they would still require that attention — and it would still be provided by the taxpayers via Medicaid or Medi-Cal. That might help solve Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prison budgeting problem, but the public still would be stuck paying the medical bills.

The governor's "solution"? Release those prisoners into county jails. Some solution.

Another news item that fits so neatly with talk about prison reform is the 40th anniversary of the conviction of Charles Manson and his "family" of murderers.

Because many of them were sentenced to be executed under a law later declared unconstitutional, their sentences were commuted to "life" in prison. But that doesn't mean "life in prison" — not literally.

Because a sentence of life without possibility of parole was enacted later, these killers keep coming up for parole.

As for Manson himself, knowing that his chances of parole are about the same as the chances this column will win a Pulitzer Prize, he disdains parole hearings. But his "family" members have sought — and two have been granted — paroles.

In case you've forgotten, with Manson as inspiration, this "family" committed seven starkly brutal murders — killing total strangers just for kicks — in the Los Angles area in 1969.

Among the seven "family" members still serving nominal "life" sentences are three men: Charles "Tex" Watson, 63, Bruce Davis, 66, and Robert Beausoleil, 61.

While serving four decades of their "life" sentences, Watson and Davis have become born-again Christians, which is not unusual for prisoners serving life terms, particularly those on Death Row.

Beausoleil has become a musician and has made some recordings.

But here's the most remarkable thing about those three: While in prison serving "life" terms, all three have been married and have fathered children. Watson has three children, Davis one and Beausoleil four.

Could any sci-fi writer dream up anything weirder than that?

This is all the payoff for what were called "conjugal" visits for prisoners, back when this crazy idea first came up. It must have been in the 1960s, when everything in this world seemed to start getting truly weird.

Here was the plan: If an inmate had a wife or girlfriend who wanted to come and shack up for the night in a house trailer on the prison grounds, the warden would schedule an official tryst.

The rationale: If the prisoners could relieve their sexual urges in this "normal" way, they would be less likely to rape each other.

The result: a baby factory run right on the prison grounds.

At the time this policy was started, I recall wondering, right here in print: What about prisoners who have no wives or girlfriends available? Will the warden ask inmates assistance organizations for some volunteers? Or will the state import some professionals from Nevada?

However that was resolved, and including all the inmates besides the Manson "family" who have been granted "conjugal" visits, we now have a whole generation of children fathered by prisoners while they were serving time. Any oddsmaker in Vegas will give you 10-to-1 that those children will grow up to be wards of the state in one way or another — but the youngsters are hardly to blame.

What's to blame is the whole nonsensical idea of "conjugal" visits.

Whether it's to save money or to avoid overcrowding, whenever they talk about prison reform, this would be an excellent place to start.

— Chuck Thomas is a Star columnist whose column appears on the Opinion pages each Saturday. E-mail him at star4cthomas@earthlink.net.